He then made his feature film directorial debut with the romantic comedy Joni's Promise in 2005, gaining a Best Director nomination at the 2005 Citra Award.

[citation needed] Anwar's first film production experience came as an assistant director in Sekar Ayu Asmara's directorial debut Biola Tak Berdawai in 2002.

[citation needed] During an interview with Nia Dinata, who was gaining praise for her 2002 release Ca-bau-kan, for The Jakarta Post, Anwar impressed the filmmaker who in turn asked him to join a project she was working on.

The film was credited with reviving the career of Barry Prima, an international martial artist and actor, who is Anwar's childhood hero.

[6] In the same year, Anwar wrote the screenplay for two other major releases: Dimas Djayadiningrat's sex comedy Quickie Express and an adaptation of Moammar Emka's best-selling novel, Jakarta Undercover.

[7] Maggie Lee of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it "would make [Alfred] Hitchcock and [Pedro] Almodóvar proud" while praising Anwar for "[accessorizing] his creepy suspense-horror with a dazzling array of auteur-homage".

Anwar cast rising star Rio Dewanto in the lead role as a man who must rescue his family from a killer who is hunting them.

The film was screened at the South by Southwest where it received generally positive reviews including from Richard Kuipers of Variety who called it a "brainteaser" and that "this extreme arthouse entry will leave a lasting impression on many auds".

In 2015, Anwar released his fifth feature film the urban drama A Copy of My Mind with Chicco Jerikho and Tara Basro in the lead roles.

This includes Galih & Ratna, My Generation, The Underdogs, Daysleepers, 27 Steps of May, and Ave Maryam, and the Malaysian crime thriller Fly by Night.

In October 2019, Anwar released the folk horror Impetigore (Perempuan Tanah Jahanam) as his eighth feature film, becoming a critical and commercial success.

He also received another nomination in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for writing Kimo Stamboel's remake of Indonesian horror classic The Queen of Black Magic.

[20] Shortly after the release of Gundala, Anwar was announced as the executive producer to oversee the production of several films included in the planned Volume 1 of Bumilangit Cinematic Universe superhero franchise.

[21] The first of these films to follow Gundala will be the Upi Avianto-directed Sri Asih and Ody C. Harahap's Patriot Taruna: Virgo and the Sparklings which were originally slated for a 2020 release but were pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[24] In April 2022, Anwar was announced to be directing an adaptation of Charles Beaumont's short story Fritzchen with a screenplay by Michael Voyer.

[1] In September, Netflix announced that they were working on 7 original productions with Indonesian filmmakers, including Anwar who will helm a science-fiction thriller 7-episode limited series titled Nightmares and Daydreams.

[26] Frequent collaborators Ario Bayu and Marissa Anita are set to star in the series alongside Ruth Marini and Putri Ayudya.

[27] The following November, Sri Asih was released in theatre as the second entry to the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe, which Anwar wrote and produced.